Transplanter



(No Model.)

Patented May 3 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GUSTAVUS L. SILSBY, OF MILES GROVE, PENNSYLVANIA.

TRANS-PLANTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.362,465, dated May 3. 1887.

I Application filed August 30, 1886. Serial No. 2l2,fl7l3. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, Gus'rnvus L. SI'LsBY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Miles Grove, in the county of Erie and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Transplanters, of which the following is a specification.

' My invention relates to improvements in transplanters; and it consists of the peculiar combination and novel construction and ar' rangement of the various parts for service, substantially as hereinafter fully set forth, and particularly pointed out in the claim.

The object of my invention is to provide an improved transplanter of peculiar construction which will be capable of taking the plants out of the earth without squeezing them and the earth, and thus injure the delicate and tender roots thereof, which is liable to destroy the plants.

A further object of myinvention is to provide an improved transplanter which can be very easily and readily adjusted to take up a larger plant or dig a larger hole than the hole to which it is normally set, and thus adapt the device to a wider range of usefulness, and, finally, to improve the device in minor details, so that it is simple, strong, and durable in construction, cheap and inexpensive of manufacture, and can be operated with great ease and with a minimum expenditure of power and exertion on the part of the operator.

In the drawings hereto annexed, Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved transplanter, showing the jaws thereof distended. Fig. 2 is a like view of the device, showing the jaws closed. Figs. 3 and 4 are horizontal transverse sectional views'on the lines so a: and y y of Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 is a view of the device with one side of the jaws thereof separated to adapt it to dig a larger hole or remove a larger plant.

Referring to the drawings, in which like letters of reference denote corresponding parts in all the figures, A and B designate the shanks of my improved transplanter, which are curved outwardly and then inwardly, at c, at a point about midway of their lengths, and provided at their upper extremities with hollow cylindrical sockets 0, in which the lower ends of the handles D are very securely fitted and held in any approved manner, so that the jaws can be opened and closedwith a slight exertion 011 the part of the operator, as will be more fully described presently. These curved portions of \the shanks cross and lap each other, as shown, and at the point where they cross the shank A is provided with a transverse opening, a, and the shank B is provided with a longitudinal slot, b, the terminal ends of which are enlarged and rounded, as shown at b.

E designates a transverse pivot-bolt, which passes through the opening a and the lower terminal end of the longitudinal slot 11, and this pivot-bolt has a threaded end, on which a nut, e, is detachably fitted to hold the pivotbolt and the shanks together and permit them to be disconnected, so that the shank B can be raised or lowered to adapt the pivot-bolt E to enter one or the other of the terminal ends of the longitudinal slot, for a purpose presently described. 7

E F designate the jaws of the transplanter, which are rigidly afiixed to and carried by the lower ends of the shanks A B of the device. These jaws are connected together to form a chamber or receptacle into which the earth, or plants and earth, are to be fitted and carried. Each jaw is provided witha semicircular or curved rear side, 6, and the fiat parallel sides f, and the rear and flat sides of the jaws are formed of a single piece of metal. The jaws are inclined or reduced toward their lower ends, so that when they come together they form a chamber or receptacle which is smaller at its lower end than at its upper end, asshown in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings. forward edges of the fiat sides f of the jaw E are provided with transverse openings or perforations g, and the inner upper edges of the corresponding sides, f, of the jaw F are provided with slots h, which open through one of the edges of the sidesf of the jaw F, and provide depending lips or shoulders h, which extend into those parts of the slots which open through the edges of the jaw F. The meeting edges of the fiat sides of the jaws E F overlap one another, as clearly shownin Figs. 3 and 4, and through the transverse openings of the jaw E and the slot of the jaw F passes pivot pins or studs t, which connect the said jaws together, so that they can be moved lat- The upper erally of each other, as is required inthe operation of transplanting. I

This being the construction of transplanter, the ope lows: The removable my improved ation thereof is as folpivot-pin that connects the curved shanks of the implement together normally rests in the semicircular portion at the lower end of the longitudinal slot, and the pivot-pin t \nrks in the slots h in rear oi the depending sh onlder 71/, so that they are not lial le to become lot-a hed. In order to insert the device 11 the ground to remove a plant the OflOlll, the upper ends of tie handles D are separated, anl tin s sepa ate the jaws and cause them to be! loved away from each other. The jaws rre now I" reed int) the ground around the plantto be remo er, and the devie elevated out )i ti o gron id r nd carried to the proper place or p int whcr it is desired to plant the plant therein.

By means of the peculiar tapering form of the jaws,with th lowu end 11 ado smaller than the upper e 1d, the ph nt i ieti nod between the jaws without for in; the 1P1 3r ends of the handles and shanl s togethe so that the operator is rot rzqni ed to exert pressure on the v handles in order to pie cit the plant from l'allin from the aws; and l atta:h es )eeial importance to illll feature, I m enabled to thereby pro ide a d *vi ch. obviates the nccesity of forcing t 1e jaws goth 2r up n the plant a ter the remo 'zl ereof from the ground, is this 01 zration is tblet injure the delicate roots oft 1e pla it an 1 thus .lestroy the same.

It a prove with ill thus be so u that l transplanter which great ease by the (pcrator and with a I prov de a1 imcan be operated H nini r not in urn of power, and hat the device does me the delicate roots of the plants in transferring them from one part of the field to the other.

In order to adapt the jaws to dig a larger hole in the ground, or to remove alarger plant from the earth, the pivottis removed from the jaws by slipping it through the open slots and beneath the depending lip h, the piv at E laving been first elevated to the upper h m inal end of the longitudinal slot 6 of the sh anl: 13, and the latter thereby dropped down so that the lower edge of its jaw lies beneath th 2 lower edge of the jaw on the corresponding shank,A. The jaws E F can thus be separated to a greater or less extent by properly manipulating the handles, which in tnl n operate the shanks and thejaws, as will be very readily understood.

Myinvention is very cheap and inexpensivc of manufacture, thoroughly effective and re lial le in operation, s mple and durable in con strnction, and capable of use with great ease.

of the shank B and t ally-movable jaws E F,

bin lingnut, the lat( carried by the lower ends of thc shanks and inclined downwardly and forwardly, and proreai sidesa 1d thelapped vid d with the curve meeting edges, the irner edges of the uv F opei slots and the debeiig provided witL pending lip, and the pins I, pas ing through the slots of thejaw l in rear of the shoulder, and also through the jaw E, snl stantially as 7 described, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony that I elaiulthe foregoi my own I have hereto atfixed my signatu presence of two witnesses.

GUS'lA'VUS L. SILSBY.

iation cf the wing theloncured to the ongh the slot 6; and having a comhi alter h dles sc re in \Vi tn esses J EFFREY GODFREY, H. A. TRAUT. 

